The Liver and Its Emotions

The human body is a complex piece of machinery, of which only the skin is visible to the eye. The inside is somewhat of a mystery as, apart from some anatomy and physiology, only very little is known about how each system interacts with another. The skin is the body’s defense against the outer dangers and protects the life within, like city walls protecting their residents. Any trauma to the body, such as broken bones, surgeries, or wounds will weaken the “wall” of the body.
The skin will bear a visible scar of the trauma, and the inner body will retain the invisible memory of the pain and stress of the trauma. Psychological trauma however will not leave a visible scar, but the memory of it will burry itself deep into the body targeting the body’s most vulnerable area or organ, the “weak link” or “Achilles heel” of the body. Every person has a different “weak link”, which becomes the main target of stress. Each organ reacts to a certain emotion. Everybody knows the expressions “I have a gut feeling” or “That left me breathless”. The reaction of the organs all depends on the intensity and duration of the stress, ranging from a simple stomach spasm to vomiting or fainting. Every organ doesn’t just react to emotions, but may also determine a certain behavioral pattern of a person, depending on which organ becomes the “weak link”.

If the liver is the “weak link” of the body it may not express physical symptoms alone (see here), but also emotional and behavioral symptoms. Not every person will express all of them and the degree of expression may also vary amongst each individual. Some of these emotions and behaviors are:

Having bad memories: The liver is the organ that stores all events that build the identity of the person, both good and bad. When the liver isn’t working quite right, bad memories can ofter reoccur and influence decisions and actions in the future.
Lack of self-esteem: People have to be able to love themselves, before being able to love others. A well-functioning liver will promote this! If the liver isn’t working well, self-esteem will be greatly influenced by a variety of situations, such as relationships, hierarchy at work, physical attributes, or other people’s personalities making one feel inadequate. It can either inhibit what you do or in some cases make you respond in the opposite way by forcing situations or going on power-trips in order to compensate for the lack of self-esteem.
Poor moods and not feeling well: Everyone has had the experience of having a heavy meal or lots of alcohol and not feeling great the next morning. People who eat a lot of fat and drink a lot of alcohol will have poor functioning livers. Some consequences could be the loss of ambition to do anything, feeling bad about oneself, or physical pain. Everything becomes a problem!
Bouts of anger: People with poor livers tend to be hypersensitive and can blow up over nothing. The anger is not out of malice, but insecurity, fear, lack of confidence and pessimism. The anger acts as a overflow valve - accumulated repressed emotions have to come out at some point, and this is one way of doing it!
Depression: The liver and the brain are so called “paired organs”, so they exchange their energies. If one isn’t doing so well, it draws energy from the other. So a poor functioning liver will draw energy from the brain, making one feel blue, unhappy, drained, or unloved.

How to take care of your liver?

chew food slowly to aid digestion
reduce the amount of fatty and sugary foods, meats and alcohol
drink lots of water, add some lemon juice, or drink green tea
fruits: grapefruits, lemons, berries, fresh pineapple
vegetables: bitter greens, red radishes, fennel